Career Decisions - Considering CRNA

[ptreebranch, BSN, RN]

I thought I would jump on here because I have been going back and forth in my mind about the best decision to make as far as next steps in this career. I graduated nursing school in 2022, worked a year and a half on cardiac telemetry, transferred to ICU about 8 months ago. I am loving working in the ICU and currently work at a level II trauma center where we get a mix of trauma, medical, surgical, neuro patients. There are opportunities to train for balloon pump, impella, CRRT, open hearts (though they typically don't train nurses until you have a year or more on the unit.)

I am making this post because ultimately I am hoping to go to CRNA school down the road. While I love the unit that I work on, I am in a smaller city and am really hoping to make the move back to a larger city in about 5-6 months, and maybe try to work at a teaching hospital/and or a specialized ICU (transplant, CT or Coronary). When I apply other hospitals, I will be just about a year in at my current position. Can I/should I list my current manager as a reference even though I have not been here for that long?

Any advise in general from other nurses who are/were in a similar position? It kinda sucks because I really like my job, I am just not happy where I am currently living (where I grew up) and want to be somewhere more exciting. I am in California so the plan is to stay here until I can get into CRNA school.

[CRNA School Prep Academy]

Hey there! I know your post is about finding a new job, but I wanted to just throw this out there-- 

It sounds like you're in a solid ICU getting solid experience for CRNA school. 

In nearly every instance, quality is more important than level or even specific ICU unit (Ie many people think it "has" to be CVICU, which is 100% false!) 

In reality, schools want you to get the SICKEST of the sick patients. They want to see you managing drips, vents, understanding the hows and whys and the processes of what you're doing in the ICU. 

If you can stay in an unit where you're supported and taught  ECMO, pumps etc then you're better off staying there.

Starting over in a new unit could mean:

Longer time until you get back to getting the sickest patients, more difficulty getting LORs since managers may not know you as well, plus if you have to go through any type of orientation when starting a new unit, most CRNA schools don't count that time towards the years of experience. 

If you're at the one year mark where you are now, why not start applying to CRNA school instead of changing units? 

😉

Hope this helps. Cheering you on--- you CAN do this, future CRNA!  

[ptreebranch, BSN, RN]

CRNA School Prep Academy said:

Hey there! I know your post is about finding a new job, but I wanted to just throw this out there-- 

It sounds like you're in a solid ICU getting solid experience for CRNA school. 

In nearly every instance, quality is more important than level or even specific ICU unit (Ie many people think it "has" to be CVICU, which is 100% false!) 

In reality, schools want you to get the SICKEST of the sick patients. They want to see you managing drips, vents, understanding the hows and whys and the processes of what you're doing in the ICU. 

If you can stay in an unit where you're supported and taught  ECMO, pumps etc then you're better off staying there.

Starting over in a new unit could mean:

Longer time until you get back to getting the sickest patients, more difficulty getting LORs since managers may not know you as well, plus if you have to go through any type of orientation when starting a new unit, most CRNA schools don't count that time towards the years of experience. 

If you're at the one year mark where you are now, why not start applying to CRNA school instead of changing units? 

😉

Hope this helps. Cheering you on--- you CAN do this, future CRNA!  

This is very helpful! I agree that starting over could ultimately set me back more than be a step ahead.

Unfortunately, though my current hospital does do hearts, pts with PA catheters, balloon pumps, impella, we don't do ECMO. So I think at this point it is a matter of weighing out the pros and cons of staying vs leaving for a larger hospital system..

I have thought about applying to CRNA school now, but so many people have been saying that I should I really get at least 2-3 years before applying. Also, I have not taken CCRN yet..

[CRNA School Prep Academy]

ptreebranch said:

This is very helpful! I agree that starting over could ultimately set me back more than be a step ahead.

Unfortunately, though my current hospital does do hearts, pts with PA catheters, balloon pumps, impella, we don't do ECMO. So I think at this point it is a matter of weighing out the pros and cons of staying vs leaving for a larger hospital system..

I have thought about applying to CRNA school now, but so many people have been saying that I should I really get at least 2-3 years before applying. Also, I have not taken CCRN yet..

CCRN would be helpful; not all programs require it, so you can still check with the schools you're interested in. 

I encourage you to grab this free 8 Step to CRNA guide; it's been recently updated for 2024 Requirements (and competitiveness!) so you should find a lot of good tips/advice in it: 

https://www.cspaedu.com/planning

We're rooting for you!